Dumb Luck
by JTheGoblinKing
Summary: The following is if the character Thomas Raith had made it into the TV series. Some content is from the novels. I do not own anything contained in this story.


Dumb Luck

Disclaimer: The following fan fiction is based off The Dresden Files TV series and incorporates a character whom was rumoured to have been set to appear in the show toward the end of Season 2, had there been a Season 2 of The Dresden Files. The Dresden Files TV series belongs to Lionsgate. Thomas Raith is a character of The Dresden Files novels by Jim Butcher. I have tweaked the character of Thomas Raith slightly from his original book incarnation as to smooth out the transition of Thomas Raith appearing in the Dresden Files TV series if there had been a Season 2. The character of Andrew belongs to EmptyNight of IMVU. Some content inspired by Backup, the novella by Jim Butcher. All twelve actual episode titles of The Dresden Files TV series used within this story.

I used elements of the TV series, the Jim Butcher novel Blood Rites and the Jim Butcher novella Backup. It was an effort to fuse the universe of the books with the TV series. I take no credit for content from these sources. I own nothing here. The Dresden Files novels belong to Jim Butcher.

Dumb Luck.

Chapter 1: The start of an Empty Night

Dumb luck always saved him. Yup. Always dumb luck. Dumb luck watching over Harry Dresden's shoulder. Dumb Luck lurking in the shadows. Dumb Luck carefully going unnoticed. Hi. My name is Thomas Raith. And apparently I'm ...Dumb Luck. Well, either that or some really screwed up guardian Angel. I guess I sort of am like an angel only stranger.

Harry Dresden did not know me but I knew him. I was the unwanted outcast. The bastard son of Lord Raith and Margret Morningway. Yeah. That's right. Cue up the Soap Opera music. Maybe The Dark Shadows theme song. I'm Harry Dresden's brother.

Oh, by the way...

I'm also a monster. Let's make that perfectly clear from the start.

Harry could never know I exist. I had decided that early on. He would never believe he was related to a creature of darkness. Let me explain...

I come from a 'lovely' family of life draining monsters called The White Court Vampires. We don't drink blood or anything like that. Instead we feed on life energy. Usually through the intimacy of sex though I've got cousins that feed on fear. You can't imagine what it was like for me. I was a kid. I was just some scrawny, near sighted kid. I thought I was normal. Well, I was a geek but I was normal. I guess I was kind of cute for a nerd but now everyone and their dog find me irresistible.

See, they deliberately don't tell you- my 'charming' family. If you fall in love and are loved in return before you have your first feeding, the demon inside dies. You get to remain mortal. You get your happily ever after, you and your kids after you, you get to be human, free and clear. No. Not me. No one warned me. I had sex, didn't realize the girl felt nothing for me. Usually it's the guys who use the girls for sex. I was just the unlucky one.

I woke up the next day after this incredible experience that I didn't understand and found she was dead and I was... different. Something had woken up inside. Something inhuman. And it was hungry for more... That's when I learned what I was.

That's when they finally told me, as my sister Lara arranged for the body to be disposed of. I sat in a dazed panic at having just killed someone. Well, I detached myself from it really. I couldn't let myself think I had done it. She had a heart attack somehow. A fluke accident, right? Right? Wrong. I'd done it. I'd fed from her. I was now an immortal monster. My near sightedness was gone. My glasses discarded on the night stand. My skin now pale as moonlight. And this eerie sense that everyone was looking at me and liked what they saw... It felt... good. I felt energized and nauseous all at once. Do you know what a shock it is to learn you're a monster?

How could this be? My Demon woke and it seemed in that instant that God had abandoned me (if there is a God). I was left looking at the disheveled bed, knowing I would never be free. The vessel that I used to be was tainted now and my soul was torn apart. I had been bathed in this insanity by my paternal family, robbed of my human heart…

To sit thinking about it, to contemplate an eternity of this or the possibility of really going to Hell was more than I could bear. What had I done so badly to deserve this? I didn't know what I was doing when I had killed her. I sealed my own fate when I fed for that first time. A destiny of damnation offered up by Hell's own hand. Empty Night! A tragic Empty Night of lost life and lost humanity… My skin was white as snow. My pale blue eyes that were once weak and near sighted saw perfectly even in the deepest darkness with a strange sort of way of self-illuminating that everything seemed to bear it's own light source. There seemed a soft glow to everything. My eyes were no longer pale blue. They were gray-blue and would turn silver and white with the degrees of my Hunger, the Demon's control over me. Had I invited this fate- this invitation into monsterhood, this calling from the damned. This introduction to the dark had never been in my mortal plans. My dreams were shot to Hell now. And what of her? The girl I killed… I spent hours vomiting…

Should I embrace these wicked ways and haunt the night for what I need? I was not a man anymore. I was a thing. I was a being of terrifying strength, a bringer of bewitching enthrallment. Life energy, the life force became the drug I needed. Let life fulfill the thirst in me. A thirst that would send them to their deaths… A thirst for that which I would forever crave…

The wealth of being a Raith was no comfort. It was plunder, literal blood money from the lives of victims lost to the thrall and lust of Incubi and succubi around me. Now I was a thing of darkness thrown from this ungodly swoon, immortal from the offering of an innocent life. Kept from my eventual death and decay. I would be young and beautiful forever. An ageless predator. I was lost to the human world. I had no chance of finding love now. There was a Demon now inside of me. It had always been there, dormant, but now it was awake and it was hungry. It was my Hunger. I had never asked for this fate. This had never been in my plan. And if this cruel joke was to be my destiny maybe I should embrace these dark ways and prowl the night for what I need…

My Hunger was strong. It over powered all sense of right and wrong. My Hunger gnawed inside of me. My Hunger demanded to be fed. My Hunger was corrupting me…

Then suddenly everything fell into a clear view. The horrible realization hit me abruptly as if someone had swung at me and only now did I feel the blow.

I had killed now and I had taken great pleasure in that first kill. I had taken a life and it was a beautiful experience. Is misery made beautiful right before my eyes in taking life? I was a monster now. I had been taken to the edge of darkness and now I started a steep fall from grace. Would I burn in Hell for this? I couldn't die so how could I? I was burning right now from the inside out with a sudden guilt.

I had killed and I had loved it. I didn't know what I had been doing when I did it. I didn't know… but I had enjoyed it, hadn't I? I had killed someone and I had wanted to do it. And a part of me wanted to do it again and again and again. I was a selfish monster that for my own contentment I had murdered someone. I felt no guilt in this but the knowledge of what I had done until afterward.

Perhaps I felt guilty because I thought that I should have felt guilty. I should have felt guilty and yet I did not. I wanted to murder. I was happy that I had murdered. I wanted to weep now but not because I had killed but because I did not truly feel guilty at the fact that I had murdered. In the fact that I had felt pleasure in death and not regret caused me to regret it. I was truly a monster now and a part of me actually wanted to laugh. Oh, what a monster I was! What a monster I truly was. I wanted to cry but not for the death of the man but because of my own lost innocence. That's how selfish I really am, you see. I actually enjoyed killing. I had actually taken pleasure in the taking of life.

All life, I had once believed was of equal value. If you kill one person then you may as well kill a thousand. If you kill a thousand men then you may as well kill one. All life was of an infinite value. All life was precious… One person could save or destroy the world but was that really true? Did the actions of any individual truly shake the great plan of the universe? Was there a plan all? Do any of us ever really have an effect on the universe? Was I wrong in my beliefs of the value of one human life for it sure felt that way now… Was everything that I had ever truly had faith in a lie?

Everything was different now. Nothing was right. Nothing was the way I had always had seen it. Nothing was right. I was torn. I did not know what to do. I wanted to cry and yet I did not feel the true pain needed to cause me to cry. What should I have done? I was lost and confused. Nothing was the way it had been. My morals had been turned upside down this night. I was lost. I was lost to the world and there was absolutely nothing that I could do about it.

In that kill I had forsaken everything that was left in me that was human. What was left of me that was human died with that kill. It wasn't just my first victim that died that night. It was me. Thomas Raith. The way I knew him. I missed being him…

I truly had died that night.

In that first kill I had stumbled blindly into darkness without pain and yet with pain. I was confused. I had loved doing it and I would easily do it a gain but I didn't want to. I did not want to ever do it again but not for the right reasons. I was not human anymore.

What had I done? What had I become? Everything was different now. It was as if my world had flipped. I would always remember that first kill as I would surely remember the last. Would there be a last? Would this ever end? Would this ever come to a stop? No. No, it would never really end. It would just go on and on. I was an immortal now. This was like an insane ride that would never come to a stop.

It was as if I had died with that girl. I had lost my innocence. I had lost my blood innocence. I had taken a mortal life and nothing would ever be the same. It was scary. I saw the future before me and it was dark and bleak. I did not like it.

I felt as if I was a calm pond in the middle of the woods and someone had come along and thrown a stone in to that water causing ripples that would just grow bigger and bigger. And yet like most ponds the ripples would eventually go away and the outside appearance may seem still once more. Unfortunately though, the rock that had been tossed would always be on the bottom of that pond, and then that stone becomes part of the pond forever whether he likes it or not. And he can never remove it from his heart. It can never go away. He simply has to learn to live with it there in the darkest and most painful reaches of his heart. And the pond simply has to accept this for he really has no choice in the matter.

My morals haunted me as if they were the fragments of a dead mortality. I felt the pain of knowing that what I felt was not what I should have felt as was the pleasure of the kill. My dying human morality haunted me.

Where was I? Who was I? What was I? What had I become? What was I to do now? This was not right. I felt lost. I was not anywhere. I was nowhere. I was not anywhere. I did not know what to do or where to go from there. Everything I had been taught to believe was a lie. I was and would always be damned. I felt as if a ton of bricks had just landed on me.

My dying morals ate at away at my still human soul the way a pain of an amputated limb would still hurt a man after it had been removed. What was I to do?

I was a killer now and I could never change that. Nothing could change that. Nothing could make up for what I had just done. I was a murderer.

I had killed now and there was nothing to stop my descent into darkness. There was no turning back. I could never turn back. I had now crossed the ultimate line from where now I could not return on the darkest side. No one could return from this point in darkness. Once you start your fall from grace there is no turning back. I could not comfort myself. I didn't deserve comfort. I was a murderer. I had no idea that it would be this way. I did not imagine that taking a life would be such an experience of mental torture and confusion. I didn't know I'd ever take a life! Now I was endlessly falling through a downward spiral. I could never win. I could never be happy. I would never find peace. All I could do now was allow myself to fall and submit to the spiritual burial of my will and integrity. Here lies the mortal soul of Thomas Raith…

It seemed that I would never find peace, not this night nor ever again. I wanted to get as far from there is possible. Now I was trapped forever on the dark side of the glass damned do to my own foolish naiveté to darkness.

After a few months I got over the initial shock that I was a damned monster sharing my body with some sort of symbiotic demon that fed on the life force of others and in return for my feeding it gave me irresistible charm, good looks, speed and strength unmatched by mortals. I was about thirty when I learned I had a brother through careful snooping around Raith estate. It's nice when your family thinks you're a harmless dip.

My mother (a witch) had escaped my father when I was six. I didn't remember her too well but I remember she loved me. She gave me this pentacle amulet I always wore around my neck. It was silver and just slightly larger than a silver dollar. Now I realize she meant to come back and save me from my monster lineage but at the time she escaped she could not take me with her. It wasn't safe for her or for me. I have to tell myself that to not resent her. I know she loved me...

Anyway, she met this stage magician named Malcolm Dresden shortly after escaping my father and she had Malcolm's kid. She struck some sort of deal with faeries for protection because no one could find her to do harm to her while she was pregnant but the moment Harry was born she was vulnerable. My father killed her with an entropy curse to make it look like an accident. Yeah, my father wasn't just an incubus. He was also a sorcerer. And king of the White Court vampires. So that makes me the sorcerer-incubus mutt prince.

I knew my father wanted to kill me but for poetical reasons (I'm a prince of the White Court after all) he had to make it look like an accident. And since I played the harmless idiot it was easy to survive through 'dumb luck.' He was Wile. E. Coyote and I was the road runner.

My father feared his male heirs. He was afraid I'd try to take his title. He was afraid I'd usurp or kill him. He could put my sisters under his spell but he couldn't do it to me (I was protected somehow, maybe by my mother's magick) and so he wanted me dead.

My father's attempted brainwashing backfired. He had raised my sisters and then myself to think of family as the most important thing in the world, the loyalty and love of family. Well, considering my not so great paternal family and the knowledge that my father wanted me dead, this made me seek out the sibling who was known to be an enemy of the monster under world of Chicago.

I knew who Harry Dresden was. As soon as I learned he existed I went to find where he was. I researched him as best I could, considering an incubus has little to no access to the High Council records. My brother, the outcast among wizards as I was the outcast among the White Court. My brother, whom killed his uncle in self-defense with black magick and was never trusted because he 'got off' on murder. My brother who tried to save the lives of those who would never appreciate him for it. My brother the hero... My brother the good guy... My brother, the sort of person I wished I could be...

I could never be like him. All I could do is watch from the side lines and hope he never figures out what I am... I know he'd want to kill me. It's the right thing to do after all, isn't it? I am a monster. I've killed after all. I had to keep hidden. I could never let him know I existed let alone that I was his brother. He would never accept me.

But as I watched him from afar with a secret admiration I found myself... wanting to protect him...

One day I met this girl, Justine. She was only nineteen. She was sweet. She was innocent. She became my victim. And somehow we fell in love. She understood and forgave me for everything. And when I got badly wounded by one of my father's attempts to have me killed, she offered her life to me to save me. Everyone thought I'd die or she would die and since I was clearly in love with her if she died I'd probably destroy myself. But somehow I pulled away before I could kill her and I recovered. Justine's hair had turned silver though. She nearly died but she survived.

Justine didn't think I was a monster. She loved me. But the sad fact is once we both acknowledged our love for each other I could no longer have any contact with her. Love is the weapon to use against someone like me, as cheesy as that sounds. It burns us. If someone is in love and loved in return they are protected. Physical contact with them will burn an incubus or succubus of my particular breed. I could never touch Justine again... not unless we wore gloves and were very, very careful. Sometimes being a monster is a bitch... And yet somehow she still loves me...

Love is patient. Love is kind. Love always forgives, trusts, supports, and endures. Love never fails. When every star in the Heavens grows cold, and when silence lies once more on the face of the deep, three things will endure: faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of these is love...

Funny that an incubus, such as myself, would be born on St. Valentine's Day and my wizard half-brother would be born on Halloween. Funny that I should believe in love when it's the one thing that could hurt me, literally and figuratively…

I wanted... to not be a monster. I wanted to undo my past. I saw Harry Dresden and I saw this great guy, this hero. This sort of person you only see in the comic books. I saw everything I wasn't. I didn't even know people could really be that good and decent. I had become a cynic since waking up in the world of monsters. He made me realize that there really is good in the world, not just these cheesy archetypes in the movies. I wanted to be like him even if I never really could. I loved him.

In the darkest reaches of the heart you'll find a crossroad there where you have to choose the directions you could go. There is no no sign or marker to tell you which way is right. Out there was a world where only others would dare to feel anything for other people. A world I was no longer a part of.

What if I didn't have to live this way? I was a monster but I didn't have to live like one, did I? Had I fallen so far? Was it too late to do anything of value in the world? Did nothing remain but the echoing of the silent scream of my Hunger? The scream that no one could hear but me forever and ever…

Was there another way I could have survived? My life felt like a war that I could never win. Yet why did I allow Justine to touch my soul and teach me love? Why did I let her win my heart? Why did I let her remind me that I still had one? Why was I obsessed with looking after a mortal brother I had never met?

My heart had gone cold the night I became a monster. I had tried to turn my heart into ice but Justine had worked her way in there somehow anyway. After becoming an incubus the Hunger was all that was left, all I lived for and all I knew. And then abruptly they- Justine and Harry reminded me that there was more to life and humanity… And Harry didn't even know he was doing it.

Inspired; I moved out of Raith Estate one night, vowing never to come back. Sleeping with one eye open is a pain in the ass anyway. I used my savings to get a small apartment and worked my way through cosmetology school. I opened a hair salon in town called The Coiffure Cup and I hired myself a caffeine addicted college kid named Andrew to run the coffee boutique portion of my salon. I got a girl named Sarah to run the front counter and schedule in the appointments and I was in business.

Have you figured out why I did this yet? No? Let me explain. We incubi feed on life energy. Intimacy is how I feed. I stir the life energies through intimate contact and then I feed. Well, I figured out that some people find an intimacy in getting their hair washed. I can take tiny sips of their life energy without causing any serious harm to them. Sure, they get addicted to the swoon my feeding induces and they come back for more but at least I'm not killing 'em, right? Men, women... it made no difference. Food was food.

And in those rare cases when someone who has actually found true love stumbles in, well, then I have Andre (that's what I call Andrew) or Sarah handle it for me.

Andrew knew what I really was. Sarah didn't. I hired Andrew because of his dealings with the supernatural before and I knew he'd be loyal. My own personal Renfield only without the crazy bug eating. He came from London, originally. And that was great. It helped add to the atmosphere. Most of my Chicago-born clients thought I was a flamboyant French man. I know it's shallow but some Americans think all the best hairdressers are European and being an incubus one thing I know is how to give people what they want.

I'm a natural born liar. I even lie to myself...

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Dumb Luck:

Chapter 2: Birds of a Feather

The black smock draped elegantly around me. My thick, curly, sable hair hung around my shoulders. My gray-blue eyes were intent as I carefully trimmed Mrs. Sputer's copper hair. She was a chubby woman of forty and I had taken a few careful sips of her life force while washing her hair and now I was set to the actual work of styling. The scissors moved gracefully in my slender fingers, taking careful snips of her well managed locks. I admit it. I am an artist when it comes to hair.

Sweeney Todd has nothing on me. I AM The Demon Barber!

My eyes had turned silver white as I fed while washing her hair. My fingers raked through her wet hair and messaged the scalp. The air around me had become ice cold. And energies of lust and desire permeated the air. The pheromones rose around me like tiny, unseen bees buzzing around my aura. My demon reached out his invisible presence and touched her soul. I saw her most intimate thoughts and fantasies. And my demon caused her to feel as if she was living those fantasies. Not that she believed they were happening; my demon just provoked the emotional response as if she was living those fantasies. My customers always left happy...

I took a tiny sip of her life force. My demon screamed inside for more. He blinked my eyes until I knew they had returned to a more human quality as I forced my demon back down inside and into the mental cage I had constructed for him. It would be so easy to kill her... My Demon wanted to kill her. I wanted to kill her. But I resisted. I took the tiny sip and would take more sips through the course of my work day to keep me satisfied.

Andrew shuddered privately from his coffee counter when I fed. I think I turned him on. The blonde haired English kid who knew my secrets but was paid too well to care. A kid desensitized by the paranormal because he had already worked as an errand boy for other supernatural creatures in the past. Ah, Craig's List...

Now I was doing the last finishing touches to her bangs. Under my long black smock (which was cloth and looked almost like an old wizard's robe) I wore tight form fitting jeans and a white button down shirt with large cuffs reminiscent of something from the eighteenth century with frills and lace. The cuffs of the white shirt stuck out from the think black button down shirt I wore over it. I had on black leather boots suitable for any terrene and, of course, the pentacle amulet- the silver star in a circle that my mother had given me for my sixth Birthday.

My phone started to ring. The ring tone was It's Raining Men right at the very up tempo refrain. He gave an ironical smile that hinted at an embarrassment that wasn't really there. (I have no shame) and I picked up the phone.

'Bonjour. Toe-moss speaking. 'ow may I 'elp you?'

'Cut the crap, Raith.' Came the harsh, rasping response of my contact. 'I thought I'd give you the heads up. There's a Skinwalker in town and it looks like it's after some kid whose gone to Dresden for help.'

I had paid off certain individuals that pass themselves off as mortal to keep an eye on my brother. They didn't know why. For all they knew I was working with the wizard for something. The only people who knew Harry Dresden and I were related was myself, Justine, Andrew, my father and my older sister, the succubus Lara.

I should have been in my forties but my demon kept me young looking. I could pass for twenty-something. I was older than Dresden by six years and he was thirty five.

'Merci.' I hung up the phone. I looked by my client. 'I'm very sorry, chere but something just came up that I simply must attend to. I'll finish up here but I have to close early tonight. You want me to schedule you for next week, oui?'

Andrew was watching me from far over at the coffee bar. I knew he could tell something was up.

After my client left I finished cleaning off the work station and checked the clock. Five minutes until my next appointment but Andrew would have to postpone it for me. l took a quick look around my boutique, smiled at one of my regular customers, playfully scolded the young stylist, Sarah, working on her, and went back down the hall, around the corner, down the narrow stairwell and then through ten feet of claustrophobic hallway to get to my office.

I discarded the black, cloth smock, though it did resemble some sort of cool robe. And I left it draped over the small sofa in my office.

My office was bare save for a small sofa, my desk, a chair, and a lap top computer that was almost always left on. Unlike Harry Dresden electronics don't short out around me and I have no problem using things like the Internet.

In the past I had helped Harry without his knowing it, saved his life even. Remember when I told you he had killed his uncle and got off on self-defense? Well, I was a little misleading to you there. Sorry if I make for a bad narrator because of this. What can I say? I'm used to subterfuge and deception. I'll try o be honest with you, reader.

The fact is when first found out Harry was my brother Justin Morningway was still alive. The first encounter with Harry was pretty small. In one of his fool hearty misadventures of youth in both trying to do the right thing and get the girl he ended up on a run away horse. I came out of no where, this mysterious stranger, an stopped the horse while Harry still clung to it's back for dear life. He muttered a thanks without even looking at me really.

The next incident was not with Dresden but with his pet ghost. It was an hour after dusk when I slipped into Morningway estate one evening. Morningway, himself, did not see me. The old ghost, however, seemed to sense my presence.

I know how to hide my presence and all magical and natural ways of detecting me. I know how to move soundlessly and even seem to mask the sound of my very heartbeat and breathing. I slipped into the dimly lit study without a sound. Climbing in from the window, which had been left open, maybe to air out the musty smell of the room. Dislodging the screen without tripping any security alarm was actually easy.

'Who are you?'

I turned around slowly to face the old ghost. If not for my preternatural senses I'd swear he was a real man. He stood in a dark, pinstriped suit. His hair was white and cut short. He wasn't exactly what you'd call elderly but he wasn't young looking either. He was probably very attractive once. Hell, some people probably would still find him attractive. If he was alive I'd have had no qualms about feeding from him. He looked tasty. Focus, Thomas! Focus! Right. Anyway...

His eyes were pale aqua and actually very striking. He stood about six feet tall which made him slightly taller than me. (Harry towers over me, by the way. I'm under six feet tall and he's roughly six foot four, maybe taller...) I could see around each of his wrists were the manacle bracelets that bound the old spectre to his skull. They had sigils carved into them enforcing his binding.

'What are you doing here?' The ghost asked as if I hadn't heard the first question.

'Cool it, Hrothbert.'

The ghost looked a little surprised that I knew who he was.

'I know who you are and I know the deals Morningway made with Lord Raith.'

The ghost was looking at me in speculation now. Maybe he recognized something familiar? I was a little worried about that.

'You're Lord Raith's son, aren't you?' The ghost asked.

'Yeah, that's right.'

The ghost moved a few cautious steps toward me as if trying to figure something out. 'What are you doing here?' He was eyeing me suspiciously. I know he could tell I was not human.

The truth was I wasn't entirely sure what I wanted or why I was there.

'I wanted to see this Dresden for myself, find out what the deal was and why Morningway went through so much trouble to-'

Before I could finish the lie I saw the ghost's eyes widen with surprise and wonder. Strange to have a ghost see through you...

'Oh... Oh, dear... You poor, poor soul.'

I expected something snarky or sarcastic. I didn't like the pity the trapped spirit was showing me. It made me feel awkward and self-conscious. 'Stop it.' I hissed.

The ghost moved even closer to me. 'You resemble him, you know. Your features are a little smoother, a little softer.' He seemed to be scrutinizing me. 'You're smaller built. Better muscle tone. Better hair and different eyes but you do resemble him.'

I was backing away from the ghost. This hadn't gone at all according to plan. This was a bad idea.

And the fact that he, this bound soul, pitied me… that made me uncomfortable. It was hard to acknowledge just how far on the dark side on the glass I was but when I got pity from that spirit it made me realize just where I stood. I stood opposite the human world, on the dark side of a glass wall that divided monsters and mortals. I was alone on the edge. I was the one on the edge, reaching out for a world I could never really be a part of. I was the outsider looking in on a world I could never really be a part of.

I felt as if I had spent years moving through shadows, drifting away. Never able to touch a heart. It was too cold to keep on living this way. I could not run from what I was. I could not hide from all of the pain inside. When I looked at the world with my empty, gray eyes the night would pass but the hunger would remain…

'Don't tell him!'

'Right.' The Ghost said. 'I'll just add that to my mound 'o important facts not to tell Dresden. You know, once he finds out-'

I interrupted the ghost. 'I mean it, don't tell him. Empty Night!' I swore. Yes, Empty Night is a swear to me. An empty night is the worst thing to a vampire or incubus. It's a night without feeding, a night of hunger, a night without fulfillment or satisfaction. I raked my hand through my thick black hair. 'I'll tell him on my own time just... Not yet. Don't tell him yet. When the time's right let me do it.'

The ghost seemed to be thinking it over. 'All right.' He finally said in a whisper. 'But if I find out you mean to harm him, you will regret it.'

'Yeah, Yeah. I know. Never trust an incubus.'

'One should never trust a Raith or a Morningway. You're both.'

I couldn't help but smile. 'Yeah, what can I say? I get it from both ends. Thanks... "Bob."' Yeah, I knew what my brother called him. And I hastily scrambled out the window before Morningway could find me there with the ghost.

Five months later Morningway was dead and Dresden was on the run.

The body had been cleared out. And the area was relatively clear of wardens. I had to slip past a few of them but I did know how to hide my presence.

I was dressed as Dread Pirate Roberts from The Princess Bride. Somehow it seemed appropriate. My black hair tied back. I wore form fitting black leggings and a black, puffy sleeved top. It was mid-day I slipped in like some character out of an old spy movie, creeping along corridors until I found the old skull, still where Morningway had last left it. I had carefully avoided the High Council Wardens (Magical police) who were probably under the delusion that my brother would return to the scene of the crime.

'Hey, Bob.' I said a hushed voice to the skull. 'Bob. Bob!'

A dim amber coloured light flickered from within the old skull. It was like the light of a candle flame and yet it lacked a wick as it flickered from it's macabre setting. The light intensified and finally it emerged from one of the skull's eye sockets and came out into the open air. Like an over sized firefly it darted upward. Trailing behind it was a dark blackish smoky haze. The light hovered at about eye level. The smoky haze that trailed now expanded and a seemingly solid and very real looking image of a man took shape.

Once Bob took form I spoke. 'You don't know where he is, do you?'

'As I told the Wardens, I don't know.'

'Well, you've gotta have some clue.'

The ghost sighed but then I saw something I hadn't thought I'd see. Fear. He cared about Harry.

'They mean to take his head, don't they?' I asked.

Bob nodded.

'Is there any way to stop 'em aside from destroying the entire order?' And don't think I wasn't willing to do it. He was my brother after all and I liked him even if he didn't know I existed and if he did he'd probably destroy me.

Bob looked vaguely amused by the idea of my single handedly taking on the High Council. Of course he didn't know I didn't mean to physically take them on. I'd be a lot more cunning and discrete about it. A vague plan already was formulating in the back of my mind as to how I'd do it if I had to do it. 'I saw it happen. They refuse to listen to me. They have tried not to acknowledge my presence. I am not a person to them.' He was obviously frustrated by this fact. 'I'm a source of knowledge. If there was a way to persuade them to listen...'

'Is that all?' I asked. I snapped my fingers of my right hand. 'Easy. Consider it done.'

I turned to leave. This was going to be a snap.

'What do you mean to do?' He called after me.

'Better not to ask!' I called back to him.

The young warden was on patrol in the garden. The warden was male. I would have preferred female but this wasn't pleasure, this was necessary for my brother's survival.

I caught him from behind, clasping my hand over his mouth to keep him from screaming out to his fellow wardens. He was faster than I thought he'd be when he pulled out his silver sword and made the move to try to slice my arm off. I managed to pull the sword from him and toss it across the garden.

The warden was not giving up without a fight though. I was behind him and he rammed himself backward quickly to slam me into the brick wall. I groaned in pain. 'Ow.' He meant to force me to let go and then maybe kill me but I called forth the demon in me and I was able to throw the warden to the cobblestoned pathway beneath our feet. I pounced like a cougar. I knew the air around me had been ice cold though I, myself, didn't feel the change. I could feel the buzz of power around me almost like an electrical field. He flipped over the warden to face me. He was young. He looked terrified.

I stared into his wide eyes and reached into his mind and soul. My demon did the work for me. A little push of will to plant the suggestion that the ghost would be the best witness to testify at Dresden's trial once captured. I could tell by the slightly glazed look to the young man's eyes (the glazed look would go away) that my trick worked.

I scrambled to my feet and got the Hell out of there.

Now I had to protect Harry again. Here we are, back in the present. Me in front of my computer. I went to the para-net website, a forum for people of the occult persuasion and did a little snooping. When I found what I was looking for I dialed a number on my cell phone. Strange that creatures of legend should be using cell phones but we were. I, the incubus, and he the King of the Raven Clan.

'Hello.' He said in that deep, ominous voice of his.

I called him by his true name to get his attention. 'Bran the Blessed, you're needed in Chicago. The boy you sought to protect with a mortal mother is being hunted by the skinwalker.'

Bran the blessed could pass for a sharp nosed mortal man but he, and his clan could shift into ravens at will and were not mortal in nature. They were an ancient race of shape shifters who could shift from man-like to raven.

'We are on the move.'

Yeah, that was pretty much his way of sayng they were on it.

'Listen,' I said 'There's a wizard here named Dresden. He's gonna help you. Trust him. Whatever his plans might be, no matter how wild, trust him. He knows what he's doing.'

'Dresden? We know of him.'

'Good, than you know to listen to him.' And with that I hung up.

When the doom box (a small cube device that stores and amplifies magical energies and when triggers pretty much incinerates your enemy- a toy invented by Hrothbert of Bainbridge AKA Bob, the Ghost) was triggered in the old church we all felt it. Every supernatural creature in Chicago. You don't set off something with that much power without causing a ripple. Empty Night, Harry! Not every problem can be solved with a big explosion.

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Dumb Luck:

Chapter 3: My brother's keeper:

Boone Identity: Dresden was on a case having to do with a body hopper. I had to make sure he got all the information he'd need to solve the case. That meant throwing Marie in the Evidence Locker of the Chicago PD into a lustful and talkative thrall just before Harry showed up to retrieve the tablet of Anubis to put the pieces together literally and figuratively.

Hair of the dog: The werewolf bitch of the FBI had framed Harry for murder and Harry escaped the holding cell. Go Harry!

First I had to slip into Dresden's place before the police did their search. I'm not very good at magick. I can manage a tracking spell and a few other little things but that's about it. Harry Dresden was the wizard of the family. Sure, I had some magical talent, but I just wasn't all that good at using it.

'What are you doing?' Bob asked in a hushed voice when I slipped in to the lab and shut the door behind him.

'I'm making sure they don't find the lab or you. What do you think I'm doing?' I said in an equally hushed tone. Neither one of us knew how long we had before the police would show up and ransack the place, looking for evidence against Harry.

'How did you get past the protective wards?'

I smiled at my own cleverness and showed him the enchanted quartz crystal I had used to deactivate the wards. I held it in the palm of my hand.

Bob tried to hide the fact that my trick impressed him but I knew he was impressed.

It was a little trick of glamour, a spell I'm not very good at casting- that kept the lab hidden from discovery while Harry sorted everything out. I dare say, without me, his friend in the skull would have ended up in an evidence Locker and Harry would have been in worse trouble than he already was in. Fortunately he was able to save the day, expose the real villain and carry on as before. Hmm... That didn't sound so cheesy in my head.

Rules of Engagement: I was tailing Mathew, this Hellion (a human turned demon) who wished to be mortal again. I couldn't say I blamed him. I related to him completely. He was in love. He wanted to be mortal. He wanted to be with her. And to do that he had to escape his master.

He got a hold of his chain of sin (a small charm that held sway over him and linked him to his demonic master) and hid it in a church. Yeah, things like this don't happen without my brother getting involved. It was only a matter of time...

Now this other demon came along, really nasty guy. And he managed to snatch Mathew's chain of sin. Okay. This wasn't just for Harry anymore. This was for the boy too. Maybe I couldn't save myself from my endless life as a monster but I could save him. If only I could drive out my own demon the way Mathew planned to do to himself...

I saw him heading for the church and Mathew and his girlfriend were already making plans to tell a lie to Harry in order for him to track the demon. Mathew himself planned to kill the demon if he found him but he feared the chain of sin wouldn't be there so he was sending his girlfriend with a lie to Harry in order to trick Harry into tracking it. I don't think they believed Harry would help them if they told him the truth. I can't say I blame them. I'd have probably done the same in Mathew's place. That was perfect. But how to push Harry in the right direction? When the demon (who looked human) neared the church where he planned to stash Mathew's chain of sin where Mathew wouldn't find it. He knew Mathew would catch up to him and kill him but he would die doing his master's dirty work and the chain would not be found by Mathew and Mathew would not be freed from his demonic life.

Oh, yeah. Think again, Mr. Crispy.

I stepped up to the church, hiding all means of detecting that I was not mortal. 'Let me get that for you!' I acted like a polite stranger. He stared at my blankly as he grabbed his hand firmly and planted it hard, bear palmed against the door handle of the church. Holy objects have no effect one an incubus like me but on this guy, I could hear his handle sizzle like bacon. The smell was terrible. I pretended not to notice as I effectively branded the inside of his palm with the flower design from the door handle. I gave him my most charming, dazzling smile and let go of his hand, pretending to be oblivious to what I had just done to him. I marked him. I had set the steps into motion that Harry would figure it all out and save Mathew, turn him human and give him his happy ending that I'll never have.

He left the chain of sin in the poor box. I sat in the pew waiting for him to leave. I was pretending to pray. Once he left I walked over to the poor box and tried to retrieve the trinket that had been shoved in there. That's when the old nun saw me. She must have thought I was putting it in there. I let go of it abruptly and walked up to her.

'Empty Night.' I grumbled. 'I could kill my brother. Oh, I know him! He won't be able to resist getting involved when that delicious looking girlfriend of Matt's shows up at his door begging for help, pretending to be there on behalf of an Aunt Freda.' I was saying all this out loud. Maybe I just wanted to vent. Maybe it was the nun's gentle eyes.

She mistook my frustration for hate. 'Hatred is a wasted emotion.'

'Yeah, well, there's plenty of room for it. You'd think my mother would have planned a little better after she had me and-'

'You only have one mother.' She said gently. She looked into the poor box.

I finally managed a lie. 'Yeah. That was hers. An heirloom from the old world. I don't want it anymore. The poor can have it but... Uh... listen. If my brother shows up... he looks a lot like me only not as cute...' I grinned. 'If he shows up could you give that to him, please?'

'I shall.' She said with a nod.

'Thanks.'

It actually fit very smoothly when I found out later that Harry told her that he was looking for something his brother left at the church. It eased the complication and it made it easier to trick Harry and the nun. Oh, I'm so going to Hell...

Things worked out well for that one. Mathew got the girl. Harry gained Karma points and I get to set someone on fire.

...

Oh? You thought it was Mathew who killed 'Mr. Crispy'? Mr. Crispy is the demon sent on behave of Sorota (Mathew's master) to steal back Mathew's chain of sin. The name was given to him by my brother after he found his charred corpse (the only flesh left was the branding I left on the palm of his hand). You'd be surprised how much a flame thrower against a Hellion can resemble Hell fire if you deliberately add sulfur powder (Brimstone) to the carcass when you're done.

When I got back to the salon I probably looked a wreck. I had fought and then burned a demon and probably reeked of sulfur. I wanted a long, hot bath but first... I wanted to feed...

Andrew spotted me. 'You okay? What happened this time?'

'He's dealing with demons this week.' I said in exasperation, not bothering to replace my natural Chicago accent with the false French one. Andrew knew my secrets, he and Justine. But Justine wasn't here right now so I told him. And Andrew knew already my relationship with Harry Dresden and why it absolutely must stay a secret.

Now you may think I kept it a secret just because I am afraid my brother (a known monster slayer) would kill me. Well, that's only part of it. I think if he got to know me he wouldn't be quick to kill me. At least I hoped he wouldn't... But one important fact is this. The High Council (the governing body for magical beings) has been at war with The White Court (my breed of incubus) for a long time. If they found out that one of their witches bore a child from the king of the White Court it could be a disaster. They'd want to destroy or use me, maybe both. Worse yet if they found out I was Harry's brother they might see it as a conflict of interest for Harry. They'd use it as an excuse to claim he was a traitor, that he'd work with the White Court because his brother was one of them. I couldn't risk that happening to him. Too many people in the High Council wanted Harry's head, figuratively and literally.

Andrew was sympathetic as he brought over a coffee for me. 'Thanks.' I muttered.

'No problem. Your five fifteen is on the way.'

Ah, a client...

The young girl tipped her head back as I raked my fingers through her hair, lathering in the shampoo. I could feel her giving way to my demon. He reached out, passing into her, stirring her most intimate and private fantasies. Causing her to emotionally feel as if she was living through them. My Hunger took a careful sip of her life force. I wanted to take more. My instincts demanded it but I resisted. I could not allow myself to hurt her or worse yet kill her.

I felt the Hunger inside. I closed my eyes. I could feel it pulling inside of me. The Empty Night suddenly full of life and light. If only there was no one to care about, no promises made to myself that I had to keep then… then what? Then I could give into the Hunger and let it have my soul utterly? …Well, what was left of my soul. It wanted to fill the emptiness inside. It whispered within me that I could never be human. I must give in. This was a game I could never win against it, my Hunger. The darkness inside ached. It knew my heart and my soul. I was strong but the Hunger still fought to try to get the best of me. I could not let it have her. Just a few sips… That's all I could have. Just a few sips…

The fire of the Hunger was burning inside. It wanted to rip my own soul apart. My Demon, my symbiotic presence that gave me power, strength, beauty and heightened senses if I fed it… It didn't just want to feed. It wanted to consume me, my conscience, my humanity...

Why did I try? I could never be human. All I had was the Hunger. It was the only constant I would have in a long, long eternity. This was a game I was doomed to lose. One day I would give into it. I knew it. Hell, even the ghost, Bob knew it. That's why he didn't trust me. He said it flat out to me one day when I was snooping around Harry's lab and Harry was out. He stood near the skull, his left hand absently toying with one of those manacle bracelets that hold him to the skull.

'It's a shame you are what you are, Thomas.' Bob said without snark. 'You're more like him than you realize. But one day that Demon of yours is going to get the better of you and then-'

'I know!' I didn't want to hear it. Maybe I didn't want to believe it.

After the girl left, her hair nicely done, I thought of how one day my hunger was going to over take me… then there would be nothing left of me…

I would never have my happy ending with Justine the way Matthew had with his lover. I would never get some magical reprieve, some ritual to turn me mortal. I would never be free. That chance was lost a long time ago. If an incubus falls in love before the first feeding and is loved in return he's safe. He gets to stay mortal. I had not been so lucky. No one had warned me of what I was or what would happen. I had been doomed as was Raith tradition. You would think my father would have found it more practical to try to find me love so that I, as a mortal, would not be a threat to him, rather than wait until I'm a monster to have me killed by accident. But my father was a cynic. And love is not that common. I keep thinking if I had just met Justine sooner... If only... If only...

I don't know why I put up the fight against my Hunger, my demon, but I did anyway. I could never be human. I wished I could be. But I never would be. I could never be a good person. I could never be hero. The closest thing I would ever get to that would be looking after my brother, Harry Dresden.

Sometimes I'd ask myself 'What's your game, Thomas? What do you want?' And I really don't know. When I step back and analyze myself I realize I sort of wish I could be more like Harry, more like the hero. But I'm not. I'm a monster. I'm a killer. No matter what I try to do I could never be good. I could never be the good guy. The closest thing I'd come to being the hero is secretly protect the hero when he's not looking.

I would do this as much as I could, for as long as I could because one day I would lose to my Demon. And I might as well get as many decent things done before then as I could. I didn't think I'd save my own soul or anything like that. I just… sort of wanted things to turn out right. And Harry was so much better than me. Even if he wasn't my brother, I wanted him to live. I liked him. I liked what he did. I liked what he stood for. If I had never been a monster and born to Malcolm Dresden instead of Lord Raith… Maybe I'd have been just like him. I don't know. I had dreams once. They continue to haunt me. My Demon made me lose those dreams. I wanted to fall in love. I wanted to be loved. I wanted my happy ending. I wanted to hold Justine in my arms without it burning me. My Demon had stopped me from living the life I wanted. A hidden, invisible presence that left my soul cowering in fear. Maybe I was just using my Demon as an excuse but I could never be like Harry.

Bad Blood: I'm gonna have to back track a bit. Remember when Harry was on the run from the wardens for killing Justin Morningway? Well, I didn't entirely trust that bob's testimony would get him off. So who do you think had the wardens running in circles while Bianca was helping Harry? They could have found him with the right tracking spell however I knew how to make distractions.

I lead them up and down through the darkened streets. We (my demon and I) leading them on a wild goose chase and then losing them. My demon compensated for the darkness and aided me to see in the dark as keenly as a cat.

Soul Beneficiary: Okay, bunch of people keep dying at Harry's place. An EMT gets suspicious, someone had to thrall him. That would be me. He would be fine once my enthrallment would have a chance to fade but by then Harry would solve the case.

Walls: I've gotta love how bad of a house keeper my brother is. He needed a particular grimoire for this case. Le Grimoire nom deceased had belonged to his uncle but his uncle had given it to my own father, Lord Raith, the bastard-maker who wanted me dead.

I had to sneak back into Raith Estate (a place I was pretty much banished from) steal the grimoire and slip it into Harry's own collection and let him think it was always there. I knew those boys had The Hand of Glory before Harry did. I had been secretly watching when that girl got hit by the car. There was no way I could have saved her but I did get a clear view of the waxy artifact in the car and the 'extra passenger.'

I got the book, slipped it onto Harry's shelf. No words passed between the ghost and I this time. Just a nod as I walked by him and out of the place. I reactivated Harry's wards. In all the times I'd slipped into his place while he was out he never noticed and Bob never told him.

Storm Front: Morgan had been put in a binding circle in Harry's lab in order to keep him from trying to kill Harry while Harry was after the real bad guy of his current drama. I never liked Morgan but once he got out of the binding circle (distracting Bob by telling him Marilyn Monroe was Rubinesque) I had to lead him toward the guy who was really behind the demon summoning and black magick. First I hung out in a public place and flirted loudly and openly with some innocent, virgin girls, letting my Incubus essence be blatantly noticeable to anyone of magical inclination. When Morgan (who was chasing Harry at that time) spotted me he knew what I was but never had a good look at my face. I lead him straight to where he had to be in order to hear the truth.

TOD: This was one case where I had to be very, very careful. Wouldn't you know the guy Harry was after was an incubus? If I got involved too deeply he'd mistake me as a suspect and blast first, ask questions later. The most I could do about this one was carefully talk my sister Lara into not getting the House Raith of the White Court involved. Did Harry know he narrowly avoided a war between Incubi / Succubi and wizards? No, likely not.

What about Bob?: Admittedly I didn't do very much with this one. I knew about the Morningway Doppelganger. Good 'ol Uncle Justine. You know, he was aware of my existence. Would have used me too if he got the chance. Fortunately though he never got a hold of me. He knew about me and never told Harry.

I knew 'Morningway-lite' had sent a girl to seduce Harry. Poor Harry, so gullible, so quick to believe a girl actually likes him. One day he'll get the girl.

I met her at a bar one night while she was still in the process of winning Harry over, acting all sweet and funny. Yeah. I knew the type. I AM the type! She would slowly win over Harry's trust, get him into bed and then nab the skull. I knew it was something Harry and Bob could get out of but maybe I could be a little help.

'Handcuffs.' I told her in mid-conversation.

'What?'

'Use a set of handcuffs on your boyfriend. It's kinky fun and gives you a chance to snoop around without him noticing.' She hadn't told me her plans but what girl doesn't want to snoop around her boyfriend's bedroom?

She smiled at me. She got the hint. Harry would be able to track her if she left behind something of hers and he could get out of handcuffs easily. Okay, maybe that wasn't so useful but at least I tried...

Things that go bump: Okay, so there was this dragon that took on the form of Murphy and chaos ensues. First I saw the dragon facing off against Ancient Mai and her posse of wardens. I figured if things went wrong so close to Harry's place that Harry could get the blame if all of 'em ended up dead. So I went and made an anonymous call to the place. Most supernatural creatures don't wanna be seen by mortal authorities so I thought it would help. It backfired.

When Murphy neared the scene the dragon split. It flew toward Harry's place and shifted into the form of Murphy.

That meant I had to keep the real Murphy distracted. Well, kiss my white Sport's car goodbye. I rammed it hard into the traffic light not far from Murphy's car to delay her. No, I was not under the influence of any alcohol or drugs. No, I was not medicated. I just lost control of the wheel, muscle spasm from too many hours as a hair dresser. My insurance was paid u. I could handle it. I kept Murphy good and distracted until Harry got back from Hell...

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Dumb Luck:

Chapter 4: Power Play

So there was this demon handing out dangerous magical artifacts. And this over zealous and self-righteous cop got a hold of a branding iron that stole people's second chances at life. So he was preying on this ex-criminals who had 'reformed their evil ways' because 1. It kept him from getting killed and 2. In his zeal and self-righteousness he didn't think they deserved there second chances so he felt he was taking what was rightfully his.

I let Harry take care of the crooked cop. I went after the demon that had been handing out dangerous magical tools.

Five days after Harry's case ended I found the demon in a warehouse near lake Michigan. Why are they always in warehouses near the water front? I mean, how cliche can you get?

He looked human. That is to say he could pass for human. There were certain things that gave away that he was not human. There was a faint electrical charge in the atmosphere. A sort of hum in the air of power that wasn't human.

I stepped up to him. I was about to make a move when the front entrance doors of the warehouse dramatically flew open. There was Harry Dresden in all his glory. He held in his hand the make shift staff (enchanted hockey stick) and aimed it like a bazooka. I couldn't help but smirk at the gesture but my smile faded when I felt the intense blast to the chest.

Dresden's hockey stick staff had thrown me backward hard into the wall.

I stood there, dazed. I guess Harry figured I was small potatoes because he went to take on the other demon. I stood there, watching the fight. I had never been this close to him. My presence never this acknowledged by him. Not exactly how I anticipated my first meeting with my little brother but then again I wasn't really planning on meeting him anyway...

Harry could hold his own against the demon. The demon was powerful but then again so was Harry.

My only concern was that Harry had a habit of holding back. Now Harry could summon demons and ghosts, move objects with his mind, set fires with a thought and a flick of his wrist, change window signs, transform demons into mortals, blast people with his hockey stick / Staff, create illusions of himself, cast tracking spells, brew escape potions, channel healing magick, enchant objects, set protection wards, use voodoo dolls, read alchemic formulae, read Latin and French (though he couldn't speak it very well), get out of handcuffs with a little infusion of magick, track where a person had been, block against Thaumaturgy, take on demons and dragons alike....

He could do all that, and yet he almost never exorcised the full extent of his power.

My own remedial skills in magick were not quite equal to Harry's level. Harry waxes poetic about magick and goes on about power and responsibility. He'll go on and on about how it comes out from your emotions, passion, and how it's a deep statement about the nature of your very being, and then he'll whip out some kind of half-divine spiritual, half-crazy philosophy he's cobbled together from the words of saints and comic books about the importance of how you handle your power responsibly no matter what it is. Get him started, and he will go on and on and on...

I'd never spoken to him directly really but I had eavesdropped on him in those type of conversations. I had watched him from roof tops, alley ways, and shadows, keeping hidden as I followed him on his cases, watching out for him without him ever knowing I was there.

Magick is a skill, a skill I never quite mastered. It's exhausting and could leave you aching and worn. You could end up with a migraine from the exertion of it. It happens to me. And everyone and their dog… or haunted skull… has an opinion about the right way it should be done.

Harry was like someone who had somehow gotten a PhD in the subject while I had taken the six month crash course without the fluff but at the same time having learned a few useful tricks. Harry was the expert. I …sometimes get tracking spells right.  
The demon lunged for Harry with a spear-like weapone in his hand. It buzzed with magical power. He stabbed at Harry's chest. Harry blocked it using his hockey stick-staff to shield his body with the hockey stock. It was like watching Robin Hood fighting Little John at the river only not as amusing. And it went on like that for several minutes. Harry thrusts, he blocks or dodges, he thrusts, Harry blocks or dodges. And they went around in circles like the whole thing was choreographed for my entertainment.

Finally the demon was growing tired of the game. The demon cocked his head back. I knew what he meant to do. He was drawing up a big wad of saliva and poisonous venom. He meant to spit this powerful acidic wad into Harry's face.

Oh, no you don't! I ran forward. I pounced the demon to the ground, my pale fingers wrapping around his neck. I began to strangle him. Mercilessly I slammed his head into the floor over and over again. My teeth were gritted. He had meant to burn Harry's face off. The bastard was taken by surprise and forced to swallow his own venom (which was, of course, harmless to him.)

Now it was just Harry's turn to stare at me blankly. My eyes were silver white. The air around me was ice cold. My demon had taken the lead and was acting on my behalf. I could feel the tiny bones of the demon's neck crunching in my hands. His bulging eyes rolled back into his head.

When the demon stopped moving Dresden pushed me to the side with ease and aimed his staff at the twitching demon. There was a blast of white light and then intense flame. The demon was incinerated.

'I meant to question him! You shut him up on purpose!'

'What?' I was in a daze as my own demon crept back inside and I took the wheel of my own being. I was barely conscious of what he had said. I know my eyes were returning to a more natural gray blue. I had never been this close to Harry before, never been able to look at him in such detail. Sure my eyes are stronger than a mortal's but it was strange to be this close to him. He was at least a head taller than me. I hadn't realized just how tall he was before.

Bob, the ghost was just a few inches taller than me but Harry towered over me. I'd always thought of myself as being decently tall, not quite six foot but Harry... My big little brother.

He grabbed me by the front of my leather jacket at the collar. It was the only thing I had on besides form fitting jeans, leather boots and my pentacle necklace. The jacket was zipped up so he didn't see the pentacle that rested against my chest. He then threw me up against the back wall.

'Now I want answers!' Harry said angrily.

'Oh, My!' I couldn't help but chuckle (because giggle just isn't a cool word but let's face it, I giggled). It was fun seeing him riled up even if it mght end up with my getting killed. 'You must be Harry Dresden.'

'Why have you been following me?'

That took me by surprise. I didn't realize he knew I had been following him. He must have just pretended not to notice that I was tailing him. My tone became sombre. I dropped the smile. I had planned so many ways of doing this but it came out weak, almost desperate. 'You're my brother...'

Harry looked as if I had just slapped him across the face.

To be continued…


End file.
